Isaac Allred (1788-1870)
}} Biography of Isaac Allred Short History by Rulon C Allred. William Allred, the father of Isaac, was born in Hillsborough District, Randolph County, North Carolina. John, Thomas, William and Elizabeth Allred came to North Carolina before our Country was a republic, and settled in Randolph County near Morgan’s Mill, now known as New Salem, North Carolina. The above Thomas was the father of William, the father of Isaac. It is likely that Isaac’s father, William, was married in Randolph county to Elizabeth Thresher; their two oldest children, James and Mary Allred, were born in Hillsborough District. Sometime before the year 1788, William Allred moved with his family to Pendleton Country, Georgia. It was here that Isaac, the subject of our sketch, was born on the 27th day of January 1788. Before Isaac was two years old the family again moved. This time into Franklin County, Georgia. And it was here that William, Martha, John and Sarah were born. When Isaac Allred was twenty-two years of age he married Mary Calvert, the daughter of John Calvert and Mary McCurdy. From the records we find that Isaac Allred and Mary C. Calvert were married on the 14th of February 1811. They settled near Farmington, Bedford County, Tennessee. It was here that Mary gave birth to their first four children; ie: Elizabeth, Martin, John Calvert, Nancy Weekly and Sarah Lovisa Allred. It seems that the family had attained some influence and financial affluence by the year 1818 and had attained a home in the City of Nashville, Tennessee, where the following children were born to Isaac and Mary Calvert Allred, ie: William Moore, was born on the 24th of December, 1819, the twins, Reddick Newton and Reddin Alexander were born on the 21st of December 1822. Mary Caroline was born on the 9th of December 1824 and James Riley was born on the 28th of January 1827. The next born son, Paulinus Harvey Allred, was likely brought into the world back on the old farm, for he was born near Farmington, in Bedford County on the 21st of January 1829. The family moved from Tennessee shortly after the birth of this son and settled on the Salt River in Monroe County, Missouri. It was here that Isaac Allred and his family and some of the older married sons of James Allred settled and formed what was known and referred to in history as “Allred Settlement”. It was likely here, too, that these families were first visited by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We find this place and these people lovingly referred to in President Heber C. Kimball’s life history and by other early Elders of the LDS Church. Though James was the oldest member of the Allred family to join the Church in these last days, and was baptized into the Church the 10th of September 1832, it appears that Isaac, his younger brother, accepted the gospel at an earlier date for his Endowment records indicate that he was baptized into the Church and Kingdom of God in the year 1831. The Prophet, Joseph Smith visited the Allred families on the Salt River and with other Elders was instrumental in organizing the “Salt River Branch of the Church.” Most of the members of these families accepted the gospel and were baptized in 1832 and 1833. Isaac Allred and Mary Calvert had their next born son, Joseph Allred born at Allred Settlement on the 26th of April 1831. Two years later, on the 22nd of July 1833, Mary gave birth to Isaac Morley, also at the Allred Settlement. During the expulsion of the Saints from Monroe and adjacent counties, Isaac Allred sought refuge for his family in Caldwell County where they lived until 1838. It was at this place that Mary Calvert Allred gave birth to her last born son, Sidney Rigdon Allred, on the 22nd of October 1837. We find in 1838 that the family had moved to join the body of the Saints who had been driven from their homes in Missouri and with them they settled at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. When on the 12th of July, 1843, the revelation on “The Plurality of Wives and the Eternity of the Marriage Covenant” was first written and was read by President Hyrum Smith to the members of the First High Council called by the Prophet Joseph Smith, we find that Isaac Allred appears as a member of that council. He is mentioned as one of the nine faithful council members who accepted the revelation as the word of the Lord to the Saints in these last days. The other three members of the High Council rejected the revelation and in fulfillment of the prophecy made at that time by Hyrum, brother of the Prophet, they later apostatized. Little Pigeon Settlement Isaac Allred and his family were among the 15 Allred families who fled before the mobs when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo. They crossed the Missouri River on the ice and escaped into the bleak surroundings of that uninviting land with the faithful followers of President Brigham Young. Isaac Allred would become the leader of the Little Pigeon settlement of Mormon refugees, including several Allred families who lived in Iowa before mitrating to Utah. It is well known how the United States Government officials, after having permitted and assisted in the expulsion of the Saints from their homes and lands, later ordered that the fleeing body be overtaken and that 500 of their young men be drafted into the Army to join in the war against Mexico. The Saints were overtaken in Indian Territory and it was here that the Army Officer had been directed to get 500 men or upon failure of the “Mormons” to supply them to count them as traitors, fleeing under false pretenses, and therefore worth of extermination. This is according to the statement of President Brigham Young before the Council of the Kingdom at that time. It was under these conditions that President Young advised the young men to join the Army. He promised them that they would not have to shed the blood of their fellow men, but that this added affliction heaped upon them in this hour of their trials would turn out as a blessing upon their heads. Several of the young Allred boys joined the “Mormon Battalion: and performed with that Battalion in the longest march of foot soldiers in length of miles ever traversed by any army in the history of time. When President Young and his advance company proceeded on to the west, he advised the remaining body of Saints to stay where they were in Indian Territory and raise crops and provide for themselves and lay up store for the others in the long march which must eventually follow. Besides, he said, at that time many of their young men now in the army could join them and assist them in their track. James Allred and his family remained and at the appropriate time in 1848 continued with a 100 wagon train, many of them Allred’s, on their march to Salt Lake City, Utah. However, Isaac Allred was selected with other brethren to go on ahead with President Brigham Young as an advance company. He was with them when on the 24th of July, 1847, when they entered the Salt Lake Valley. Mary Calvert, mother of 13 fine children and one of those known and mentioned as one of the noble “Women of Mormondom” having a name worthy to be perpetuated through all time and eternity, died in Sanpete County on the 16th of September 1851. (According to one record, she died in Holladay, Salt Lake County. Sanpete County had not been settled at that time, so she must have died in Holladay.) We find the incident of her passing in Sanpete County referred to by her son, William Moore Allred in his diary, while he was still on his way to Salt Lake City with his delayed brethren and their families and while they were camped at “Loon Fork” on the Platt River. On the 5th of November 1852, Isaac Allred married Matilda Stewart, the widow of John Miller, she being sealed to him for time and to her deceased husband for eternity. By this marriage, Isaac fathered one daughter Matilda Stewart Allred, who was born 12 May, 1853 at Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake County, Utah. Isaac joined members of the Allred family about 1853 aiding in the settlement of the Allred family about 1853 aiding in the settlement of the Sanpete Valley and in the formation of “Allred Town” later known as “Little Denmark” then as Spring Town, and now as Spring City, Utah. Some of his sons were sent to establish settlements in Star Valley, Wyoming, in the Great Bear Lake, Idaho and other new places in the west. Isaac died the 13th of November 1870 at Spring City, Sanpete County, Utah after fulfilling a noble life and leaving a name for good among all Saints. ISAAC ALLRED (1788-1870) Isaac Allred was the second son and fifth child in the family of eight children born to William Allred and Elizabeth Thrasher. Between 1786 and the time of Isaac’s birth the family moved from Randolph County, North Carolina to Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina, where Isaac was born on 27 Jan. 1788. We have no record of his early life. He may, however, have been employed in Georgia as a young man, or the Calverts may have gone to South Carolina. Whatever the circumstances, on 14 Feb. 1811, Isaac married Mary Calvert, who was born in Elbert County, Georgia. (The distance between these locations is 30 to 50 miles). Isaac’s older brother, James, had married previously and gone north westward to the Ohio River. Then, following Isaac’s marriage, the two brothers settled together in Tennessee, near Nashville. The newlyweds, Isaac and Mary, must have prepared for the move soon after, if not before, their marriage. We might also guess that they spent their first summer traveling, for their first child, Elizabeth M., was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, on 6 Jan. 1812. (She lived only six years.). They remained in Tennessee until 1830, when both families moved about 500 miles north westward to Monroe County, Missouri. Isaac’s son, William, described the location as, “....on the State Road (with?) in three miles of one of the three forks of Salt River....” and son, Reddick, noted in his account, “....Father purchased a home on the great highway from east to west....” Today (1982) the three forks of the Salt River are under the Clarence Cannon Reservoir and there does not appear to be any great highway in the area. (This is also very near the birthplace of Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain, born in 1835, the year the Allreds left). According to William, they found the climate to be much colder than in Tennessee and Isaac was hard pressed to provide -- especially sufficient clothing -- for his large family, which by May, 1831, numbered eleven children. He enjoyed one advantage, however. It was the abundance of game animals. William tells of his father going out and bagging two deer before breakfast, and William, himself, killed one at age 12. We may well guess, then, that Isaac’s family was largely buckskin-clad. Reddick has left the best explanation I have seen concerning the coming of the LDS missionaries to the Salt River Settlement (also known as Allred Settlement): “....My parents were members of a school of Presbyterians and brought up their children to reverence a God and were very exemplary in their lives, so that when a new religion was introduced they naturally looked at it with suspicion, having been taught that Prophets and Apostles were no longer needed, so some cried false Prophet. In 1831 two men preached in our settlement saying a new Prophet had organized a new church and introduced a new gospel or rather the old one come again. His name was Joseph Smith. Their names were Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet and John Murdock. Other Elders were passing every few months from Kirtland to Jackson County -- the gathering place for the Saints, and father opened his house for meetings....” The Salt River Branch of the Church was organized that same day. William indicates that his father Isaac sold his farm on Salt River in 1832 or 1833 in anticipation of moving to Jackson County, the gathering place for the Church. But when the Saints were expelled from Jackson County, he rented his farm back from the buyer and remained in the area for a time, though the family had to relinquish the house to the buyer and find other accommodations. They stayed there for one more year, during which the Prophet, Joseph Smith, came to their settlement with his “Zion’s Camp” expedition in an attempt to reclaim the homes and property of those evicted from Jackson County. In 1835, in response to the call of the Prophet to assemble at Clay County, Missouri, Isaac and his family moved. From Reddick’s account, “...In 1835 father moved up to Clay and located on Fishing River where he raised one crop, and the influx was so great that the old settlers became alarmed and the mob spirit began to raise, which was checked only by a compromise by which the old settlers were to buy out the Saints, and we to move into a new county adjoining called Caldwell County. “1837 Father preempted land on Long Creek where he hoped to be able to build and inhabit -- to plant and eat the fruit in peace thereof. This was eight miles from the newly laid out city of Far West. On the 14th of March 1838 the Prophet and other leading men came in from Kirtland and settled in Far West and the Saints began to gather and spread out so that two counties had to be organized, Caldwell and Davis were two Stakes of Zion was organized.” William’s account tells us something about the circumstances and results: “...We lived there about two years and was getting a pretty good start. Broke ground for a temple in 1837. My father had quite a large family, in all nine boys and four girls, the oldest girl died before I was born, and we suffered considerable from persecution and exposure...” Isaac and Mary’s oldest son, John, married in 1833. This left William (age 19 in 1838) as the oldest unmarried son. But William fled the area after it was learned that the Missourians were seeking him because he had been involved in the battle of Crooked River and in the defense of Far West. This left Isaac and his daughters and youngest sons -- with only one or two ox teams which had not been either stolen or destroyed -- to transport family and good in the wintertime exodus from Missouri. At length the family reached Illinois and were reunited. Isaac rented a farm a few miles down the Mississippi River from the town of Quincey. The family resided there until the Prophet, Joseph, made his escape from Missouri and founded Nauvoo, on a bend in the Mississippi on the Illinois side. Isaac moved his family there in 1840. We have little information about him from then until the exodus from Nauvoo. Isaac’s family were not among those leaving there early. William noted that it was in the spring of 1846. Reddick’s record is that as he returned to Nauvoo after assisting some of the early movers to camps in Iowa, he found his family (Isaac, Mary and children, and his wife, Lucy) on the Iowa side of the Mississippi awaiting his return so they could resume the journey. He noted that weather conditions had improved so much that they actually had a pleasant trip across Iowa to Council Bluffs (a great contrast to the experiences of those who left Nauvoo early). It appears that most of the quite numerous Allred clan -- Isaac and James now being the patriarchs of large posterities of children and grandchildren -- settled about five miles east of Council Bluffs at what became known as Allred settlement. According to Reddick, it was at “Little Pidgeon” (probably a stream). A branch of the Church was organized there. About the time they reached this camp two of Isaac’s sons, Reddick and James Riley, enlisted in the Mormon Battallion. Reddick’s wife and baby remained with Isaac’s family. These soldiers’ pay was received by the Church and helped the families financially, but the great strength of the two sons was missed. Isaac, with other remaining family members, began making preparations to overwinter there. After Reddick’s return in December of 1847 (James Riley remained in California), preparations to move west were hastened. The journey was commenced in the spring of 1849. Reddick was a captain of 50. Isaac and family traveled with him. They arrived at the Salt Lake valley on 16 Oct and remained in Salt Lake City that winter. In 1850 they located near the mouth of Big Cottonwood canyon. The next year Isaac had the sorrow of Mary’s death -- on 16 Sep 1851, at age 58. The cause of her death was apparently not recorded. Isaac married Matilda Park, a widow with three children, on 1 Mar 1852. Thus, at age 64, after having raised a family of 12 (two of whom were still teenagers), he began raising a second family. A daughter was also subsequently born to this marriage. They apparently then moved to Kaysville, as that is where Reddick noted finding his father when he returned from his mission in 1855. Reddick’s words: “...they were quite destitute having lost their crop the two successive seasons as also many others throughout the territory, especially the last season.” In the spring of 1858 most of the Salt Lake valley settlers moved south to the Utah valley and beyond at the approach of Johnston’s army to Salt Lake. Reddick tells us that he remained with the rear guard and sent his family on ahead. It may be that he sent them with Isaac. Then he states, “I came to my family in Nephi and instead of going back I sold my home worth $500 for one yoke of oxen worth $100. Whether Isaac had already sold out at Kaysville or whether he also made a sacrifice trade rather than return we have not been informed. All we know for certain is that he must have proceeded on to Sanpete valley immediately, because later that year he was selected as a committee member for a study of the feasibility of making a settlement at Pleasant Creek, near the north end of the valley. (Isaac’s brother, James, and others had been called by Brigham Young in 1851 to settle the Sanpete valley, but had had serious Indian problems the entire time. They had a stronghold at Manti.) The committee made the survey and reported favorably. Then Isaac was chosen as one of the committee to present the proposal to Brigham Young. Whether he met with President Young is in some doubt, as there is some indication that he was replaced by someone else. It may be that the Allreds had decided against settling there. Whatever the circumstances, Isaac and Reddick did not settle at Pleasant Creek (Mt. Pleasant), but at Spring City, a few miles to the south. Reddick claimed to have built one of the first cabins there in the fall of 1859 (though this was where his Uncle James had settled earlier only to be driven out by Indians. The settlers’ houses were burned.) He states that his father, Isaac, and a number of other Allred families, as well as others soon settled there. Thus, Isaac, at age 72, was still extending the western frontier, building upon the ashes of home sites burned out by the Indians. Nor were the Indian problems over. One night they killed every pig and chicken in the settlement. But Indians were not the only predators. The wolves killed so many cattle that the settlers sharpened their horns that they might better protect themselves. There is indication that this measure lessened the losses, but did not stop them entirely. In spite of Indians and wolves, Isaac remained at Spring City until his death on 13 Nov 1870. He was 82. Marriage & Family # Elizabeth Martin Allred (1812-1819) # John Calvert Allred (1813-1893) # Nancy Weekley Allred (1815-1904) # Sarah Lovisa Allred (1819-1901) # William Moore Allred (1819-1901) - Mormon pioneer to Utah and Bear Lake Valley, Idaho # Reddin Alexander Allred (1822-1900) - Sandwich Islands Mission (1852-55) with brother. # Reddick Newton Allred (1822-1905) - quartermaster of Mormon Battalion (1846-47), Sandwich Islands missionary and Martin Handcard Company Rescue party (1856). # Mary Caroline Allred (1824-1880) # James Riley Allred (1827-1872) - Veteran Mormon Battalion (1846-47), Veteran Tragedy Springs Expedition (1848), Veteran Black Hawk War (1866), never married. # Paulinus Harvey Allred (1829-1900) # Joseph Anderson Allred (1831-1891) # Isaac Morley Allred (1833-1916) # Sidney Rigdon Allred (1837-1911) References * Isaac's History * Allred Family History * Allred, Reddick N., autobiography, in Treasure of Pioneer Hist., K. Carter, ed. 5: 297-372 DUP. SLC. * Allred, Wm. M., autobiography, unpub. ms. * Biography of Wiley Payne Allred, unpub. ms., author unknown. * Munson, Eliza M.A., Early Pioneer History, 3 page unpub. ms.